The Diana Initiative 2020

It’s unusual for companies to take a page from children’s books to train and educate their employees, but in this case, the Robinhood Security Engineering Team did just that. The information security industry frequently looks to experts on organizational behavior to help employees learn secure habits and create a strong security culture, but we may forget one of the best examples of shaping habits, lessons, and behaviors: children’s stories. Children’s stories help their young readers define, develop, and practice habits that contribute to greater societal norms. From introducing characters, explaining their motivations, and capturing their interactions with others and the surrounding environment, children’s books make it easy for readers of all ages to understand, learn, and aspire to certain behavioral frameworks. How can we, as security professionals, widen our perspectives on the human factor and help equip our employees with strong security habits?

Meet Crypto Cat. From inception to execution, we'll talk about how we bootstrapped, built, and launched Secure Sherwood Forest: a custom-built, interactive security game to educate employees on key security and privacy behaviors in a novel and engaging fashion. Through customized characters, a fantasy-based storyline, and a simple, internally-hosted, web-based game as our delivery mechanism, we’ll discuss the key security behaviors identified, how the game leveraged technology for hands-on decision-making and positive reinforcement of key habits, and the overall impact of the game on nurturing a collaborative and proactive culture of security at Robinhood.

We're looking forward to seeing you there! :)